Wireless charging of portable electronic devices is a feature that is increasingly being supported. While the technology has not yet been widely adopted, we are already starting to see the development of new forms of the technology, which have varying interface requirements. This creates challenges for device manufacturers, that need to decide how they are going to support a particular feature. More specifically, do you support the newer technology, the older technology, or both. If you shift your support to the newer technology, customers that adopted the older technology may be frustrated that previous charging investments may no longer be supported. In some cases, they may not be aware of the fact that there are multiple technologies, and that their new device may not function with their old charger, or vice versa. Consequently, there may be a motivation for manufacturers of wireless charging solutions to support multiple forms of a feature including both newer and older forms of a technology.
Still further, there is an incentive to try and make the experience associated with the same type of activity as similar as possible even though it may involve different forms of the technology, as users tend to develop habits in line with certain types of tasks. Correspondingly, there may be a motivation to try and co-locate disparate solutions including the operation and interface related to similar activities even if they use different technologies.
Another factor is the limited amount of device space available for supporting different types of device interactions. So, an ability to co-locate disparate solutions for related types of activities may be beneficial. Still further, given the limited device interface space, there may be a further desire to be able to co-locate still further forms of device interactions, such as support for near field communications proximate support for wireless charging solutions. At least one relatively widely accepted solution has placed support for near field communications proximate the back surface of the device. Similarly, at least some forms of wireless charging have also tended to interact with a device through the back surface of the device.
The present inventors have correspondingly recognized that coil designs that are adapted to solutions which integrate support for both near field communications, as well as multiple forms of wireless charging in the same or similar space would be beneficial.